Exhibition and amusement apparatus.



PATENTIED JUNE 26, 1906.

, M. E. PESTER. EXHIBITION AND AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

APPLIGATION FILED APR.14,'1906.

' 2 HEETSSHEET 1.

N0 824,436. PATENTED JUNE 26, 1906.

v M. E. PESTBR. EXHIBITION AND AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

' APPLICATION FILED APR.14,1906. v

SHBETSSHEET 2.

, To all whom it may concern:

Y tory manner.

. per part of the structure, and they are pref-' ilifiITED STATEta ATENTOFFICE. 4

EXHWBITEON AND AMUSEMENT APPARATUS- Be it known that I, MAX E. PEsTEn, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Glen Cove, Nassaucounty, Long Island, New York, have invented a new and useful Exhibition and Amusement Apparatus, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, in hichFigure 1 illustrates a vertical sectional view of the entire structure.Fig. 2 illustrates an elevation of the tower. Fig. 3 illustrates a planview of the escalator. Fig. 4 illustrates a detail of the elevator andcoacting parts at the to of the tower. Fig. 5 illustrates a detail of te incline or slideways.

My structure embodies certain features. which will be hereinafterdescribed, whereby its capacity to handle-passengers is very greatlyincreased as compared with anystructure of the kind known tome and alsocertain effects or resultsnot heretofore obtained are accom lished in avery satisfac- T e structural features embodied in the apparatus are,moreover,.exceedingly simple and. may be made of heavy construction.Hence there is great perma-.

nence and durabilityin the structure not only as a whole, but in all itsparts. This is an im ortant feature in apparatus of this class.

-eferring now to the drawings, A is the tower of the apparatus,preferably made in two sections, as shown, supported upon suit-' ablefoundations B. The method and spe-" cial construction is immaterial.'elevator-slideways C C.

- D D illustrate the elevators.

It has two They are of suflicient capacity to receive and convey the.

boat and its load of people. They are or may be connected by a cable orchain E E, which passes over suitable rollers F at the uperably-so arraned that when one is ascending the other is escending, so as to effectthe counterbalance.

G G are'the runways or slides down which the boat descends. They are ormay be made of timber suitably su orted upon a strongly-braced frameworkmade in any preferred manner. It will be noted that the slidewaysinstead of beingstraight or merely curved, as usual, are made wavyin mystructure, whereby the descendingboatreceives a peculiar pitching motionresembhng that of the waves.

Referring to Fig. 5, the two slideways of Specification of LettersPatent. Application filed April 14, 1905. Serial No. 311,660.

- latter bein Patented June 26, 1906.

the inclined runways are shown. Each slid ewayembodies' two lateralbeams I I, I"I,'regpectively, and, two other beams J J, J J,

rmly spiked; or bolted tothe beams-II and I I?, They are separated by aspace about equal to the width of the bottom of the boat,

and thebeams J J, J J are set somewhat lower than the beams II, I I, sothatv the bottom of the boat willslide upon them and be preventedagainst lateral displacement by the beams I I, I I. All thebearing-surfaces of these slideways are or may be lubricated in anysuitable manner, although they will ordinarily be more or less wet bythe water which flows 'downover the slideways, so that in many'instanceslubrication will not be required. I prefer, in order that the illusionmay be more perfect, to cover the entire face of the slideway-frameswith a series of transverse slats, one form of which is illustrated at KK, over which the water will splash and ripple, thus simulating thesurface of waves.

The water is forced by any suitable pumping apparatus through a pipe-L,connecting with with or without their loads of assengers, as -may bedesired, to the top of t e elevator in the following manner: a, is aninlet which simulates a river, which opens from the lake N, fiowinbapkwardlynear the foot of the tower, an in itI submerge two timbers b6-, between which operates an escalator-chain c.

It passes over two rollersd d (see Fig. 1) 1 and also overanother roller6. The roller (1 is set somewhat lower than the roller (1, the about ona level with the top of the beams Z I), a continuous sprocket-chain or.equivalent 'device f (there are preferably, but not necessarily, two,but any number may be used) continuously moving over these rollers, thelatter bein driven 'b any suitablepower, and these 0 sins or ii edevices are provided with dogs 9 g, which pro ect upwardly, preferablythrough the water, so that they may be readily seen. At the end-of theriver a, adjacent to the ends of the escalatorbeams b, I provide twoinclined runways h it,

--as, for instance, a spring provided with a switch 01, which is adaptedto be thrown to the right or left by any suitable device actuated byhandor power, as the case may be, so that the oncoming boatmay be shuntedonto one or the other of the inclined the boatis at a su able landingsomewhere on the shore of the lake N, the passengers get runways h h.These runways are provided with rollers j 3', so that the boat afterbeing delivered by the escalator from the river onto the inclinedrunwayswill byits own mo mentum and under the action of gravity'run downthe same and be' delivered upon the elevator D or D, as the case may be,which are likewise provided, as shown, with rollers j? 9' similar tothose'upon the inclined runways.

Suitable means are rovided toprevent the.

boat rolling too forci 1y uppn the elevators umper or cushion of anysuitable construction. The s inging variety sometimes used in bowlis;lleys would be very suitable for this purlpe escalator is roofed over,as seen at 1g. 1, so that it simulates a-tunnel, and the walls andceiling of the tunnel" may be decorated by painted scenery simulatinghills, valleys, caves, and dells, and overhead clouds electrio-lighteffects of various sorts, as are now well known in this and analogousarts, maybe used. Likewise the sides of the inclined runways aresupplied with scenery, as seen at mm, Fig. 1. t, however, is open tothenatu ral sky art the top, so that the inclined run ways shallsimulate rapids in a natural river.

' On a level with the elevators or in any other suitable osition at thetop of the tower there is provi ed for each elevator alaterally-arranged latform n n, which overhangs, respectiv the tank M,and these plattorms are'provided with rollers 7' so that the LII bv nomeans essential.

boats may bereadily pushed ofl from the elevators, res ectively, and,travehngupon the rollers t ereon,roll onto the overhanging ledges n n,and traveling upon them on the rollers 9' be shoved into the water atthe top of the rapidsin otherwords, at. the u per end of the slideway. Iprefer to bevel 0% the forward end of the overhanging ledge, as shown at0, to facilitate this 0 eration I'have not illustrated the' etails ofthe mechanism required to pump the water, operate the elevators, movethe escalator, operate the switch, &c., because, as stated above, anysuitable hand or power machinery or device may be employed, dependingupon the size ofthe apparatus, and consequently the amount of powerrequired to effect-the several mechanical movements. Also the detailsof-construction so far as disclosed are The structure I have illustratedis a practical and useful one; but the details can be very largelydeparted from, the essentials being nevertheless retained, and

it is not essential that the inclined runwavs if desired, becauseotherwise they wlll be fac from the top of the tower to the lake 'shmildbe uneven or wavy nor that the escalator be 1 i is by suitableappliances rolled oil from the of the form shown. Indeed, any means vicef, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

stated.

ceases whereby the boat after having made its descent can pass from thelake back to near the footo't the tower may be substituted for thatshown. I

The operation is as follows Assunfing that into the boat, which maybeneficially be of the ordinary scow type and equipped with suchappliances, seat-s, &c., as may be ,most desirable, and theboat is thenpropelled by oars, poles, or otherwise from the landing across the lakeinto the mouth of the river a and is brought by the boatman in suchsition that it shall restin front of the dogs g of thecontinuously-moving or sprocket delt will be easy for the boatmantc-locate these dogs it; above stated, they project slightly above thesurface of the water. It will be noted that the outer end of heescalator is submerged stdliriently'so hat the boat can be readilyflora-" d over the endless sprocketchainor equivalent device'withoutroundt is not essential, however, as stated, that such means forpropelling the boat through the river should he employed. It'rhay berowed, poled, or otherwise propelled to the foot of the elevator, andany suitable means for re- 131% 'ng it from the river onto the elevator11 be employed. (hi, the assumption, hon ever, that the escalator isused, the boat, bearin; its passengers-,is carried along toward t eelevator. As it proceeds, the switch & (see Fig. 3) is set so as ,toshunt'the boat when it arrives at the switch into one or the other ofthe inclined runways, depending, of course, upon which of theelevator-cars is at the foot of the elevator-tower at that time. Theboat is propelled by the dogs of the sprocket mechanism oil from theescalator and onto the .rline ll. .lhereupon, through theinstrumentality of the rollers and under the impulse given by theescalator and by the action of gravity, the boat slides upon the runwayand passing from its rollers onto the rollers of the elevator finallycomes to rest u wn the elevator, its movement being contro led bythe'bunuiers or cushions, as 'lhereupon the elevator is put intooperation, and the boat, carrying its passengers seated therein, iselevated to the top of the tower, and as that elevator ascends the otheror companion elevator descends, and in its descent it may automaticallyactuate the switch iin order to shunt the next succeeding boat down theinclined runway which leads to it. The elevator, bearing the boat andpassengers, having reached the top of the tower, the boat, with thepassengers still seated in it, (the passengers facirn about,

ing backward for the descent of the slideway,)

TIO

elevator onto the platform n and over-its the illusion being furtherheightened by the rippling of the water and the forest-coveredriver-banks. At the bottom the boat plunges into the pool or lake and isthen guided or .Qpropelled by the boatmanto the landing, -where theassengers disembark, the boat receiving a esh load of passengers andproceeding as before. It. will be understood .that durin all this time asuitably-acting pump has een forcing the water from the pool or lakelevel up into the tank at the top of the rapids or incline, which,overflowin its front. edge, has run down the incline, an thus there iscontinuous circulation of sub-- stantially the same 'body of water. I

' Obviously there is no limit to the number of boats that can besuccessively inoperation, care being taken, however, that if theescalator be used a boat is delivered by it to the in clin'ed runway atthe foot of the tower only when there is an elevator there ready to re.ceive it. Also it is obvious that the system may be indefinitelyextended, there being no limitation as to the-number ofelevators,escalators, &o., that may be combined. Also the escalator to convey theboat from the lake to the footof the tower and there deposit it upon theelevator. may be arranged as over dry land, so as to give the effect ofthe portage or tramway instead ofbeing submerged in the water andarranged in oonnecv an undertion with the lake, simulat' ound river. Ivery much pre er the latter, owever, because then the undergroundeffects and other illusions and pictorial schemes ma he more effectivelyand' attractively carrie out. i

1. The combination of a tower, an incline runway extendin from near thetop of the tower to a body-o1 water, -an'escalator adapted-to convey theboat from the body of water to near the foot of-the tower, a boat and anelevator in the tower.

2. {.The combination of a tower, an inclined runway exten from near thetop of the tower to a body 0 water a waterwa extending from the body ofWater to near t e footof the tower, an elevator'in the tower, a boat' Iand means to transfertheboat from the waterway to the elevator. I e 3.The combination of a tower, an olined runway extending from near the topof the tower to a body of water,- a waterway extending from the body ofWater to near the foot of the tower, an escalator for. conveying theboat through the waterway, an elevator in the tower, a boat and meansto. transfer the boat from the-escalatorto the elevator,

.4. The combination of a tower, an inclined runway havin a wavy orirregularsurfaoe contour extending from near the top ofrflie tower to abody-of water, a waterway extending from the body of water to near thefoot of the tower, an elevator'in the tower, a

boat and means to transfer the boat from the waterway to the elevator.

5. The combination of a tower, an inglli fned runway ha an irregular orwavys ace contour exzdiifiing from near the top of the tower to a bodyof water, a waterwa extending from the body of water to near t e foot ofthe tower, an elevator in the tower, a boat,-

and means to propel it through the waterway and from it to and upon theelevator.

6.' The combination of a tower, an elevator in the tower, a body ofwater, a waterway extending from the bodyof water to near the elevator,a boat and means to mechanically transfer the boat and its passengersfrom the waterway to and onto the elevator;

7. The combination of a tower,an inclined runway extending from near thetop of the tower to abody of water, a ledge on the top of the towerprovided with rollers and overhanging the upper end of the runway, anelevator rovide with rollers adapted to ele-. vate a oat from a lowerlevel to the level of the led e. Y

8. T e combination of a tower having therein an elevatorprovided' withrollers, a

Waterway throu h which, a boat and its load approach t e foot of thetower and an ed. runway rovided withrollers extendd of the waterwaytothe elema inc ing from the en vator. v Intestimony whereof I havesignedmy name to this specification in theipresence of twosubscribing'witnesses.

PESTER.

Witnes'sesz1 D. S. RITTERBAN 111M. Dousn'aon.

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